Saleh Al Homaizi and Imad Al Sagar's homebred mare Aljazzi put up one of the most visually impressive performances of last month's Royal Ascot meeting when she stormed clear of her rivals to take the Group 2 Duke of Cambridge Stakes by three and three-quarter lengths.
This came almost two months after she had finished third to Addeybb in the Group 2 bet 365 Mile at Sandown, her prior wins included last year's Group 3 Atalanta Stakes at Sandown, and that success followed her three-quarter-length second to Qemah in 2017's edition of the Duke of Cambridge. She is trained by Marco Botti in Newmarket , her career tally of five wins from 14 starts also includes a pair of listed-race victories and her total earnings figure has passed the £250,000 mark.
The five-year-old is one of more than 110 stakes winners for Kildangan Stud's leading international sire Shamardal (by Giant's Causeway), whose list of top-level scorers includes last month's Group 1 King's Stand Stakes star Blue Point.
She is the first foal out of Nouriya (by Danehill Dancer), who won listed races at Yarmouth and York, and her grandam is Majestic Sakeena (by King's Best), an unraced half-sister to two stakes winners, one of whom is a broodmare of considerable note. That is Shy Lady (by Kaldoun). She got her blacktype success in Germany as a two-year-old, and her star son Zafeen (by Zafonic), who was third in the Group 1 Prix Morny at that age, won the Group 1 St James's Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot shortly after chasing home Refuse To Bend in the Group 1 2000 Guineas at Newmarket. He has had some moments of success at stud, and so has his half-sister Ya Hajar (by Lycius). She won the Group 3 Prix du Calvados at Deauville as a juvenile but her son Prince Of All (by Iffraaj) won the Listed Patton Stakes over seven furlongs at Dundalk as a three-year-old and was runner-up in the Group 3 Diamond Stakes over 10 and a half furlongs at the same venue. Shy Lady is also responsible for three listed-race winners and two others who have been blacktype placed, and in addition to Majestic Sakeena, her own siblings include two others who have produced stakes winners at stud. The most notable of their results is the Group 3 Premio Tudini success of Special Cause's son Victory Laurel (by Holy Roman Emperor). There is plenty more blacktype to be found in the fourth generation of the pedigree too as fourth dam Shy Princess (by Irish River) – a half-sister to Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Mile star Opening Verse (by The Minstrel) – was runner-up to Sakura Reiko in the Group 1 Prix Morny and later became the dam of Group 2 Diadem Stakes winner Diffident (by Nureyev), who was a successful stallion in India. Also notable is that the fifth dam is the durable and talented Shy Dawn (by Grey Dawn), a multiple Grade 3 star who notched up 19 wins and 38 placings from 95 start, back in the 1970s, accumulating over $500,000 in prize money. It will be interesting to see how the rest of Aljazzi's season turns out, and with her pedigree connections there is every reason to hope that she also has a notable broodmare career ahead of her.
Reaching a total of 100 individual stakes winners is a huge landmark in the career of any stallion, and it is one that few will ever achieve. Kildangan Stud's classic hero and classic sire Shamardal (by Giant's Causeway) is almost there, and the high-class sprinter Toscanini is among his tally of 99 blacktype scorers.
A Darley-bred, Godolphin's four-year-old is trained by Michael Halford, all five of his wins have come over six furlongs, he won a listed contest at the Curragh in June and, at the same venue on Sunday, he beat Eastern Impact by one and a quarter lengths to take the Group 3 Qatar Racing & Equestrian Club Phoenix Sprint Stakes, a race in which he was short-headed a year before. The Shamardal horse Lord Of The Land was another two lengths behind in third, one length of his grand-daughter Fort Del Oro. That filly is by the Ballylinch Stud stallion Lope De Vega, who is the sire of this year's Group 1 stars Belardo and Jemayel, and the first of the Shamardal stallions with runners. Others are Shakespearean and current freshman sire Casamento, and he has a growing number of other sons who are at earlier stages of their stud careers. Initial runners for his daughters include the Group 1 Irish 2000 Guineas hero Awtaad (by Cape Cross) and the dual Group 2-placed dual Group 3 scorer Gifted Master (by Kodiac), so the early indicators are that Shamardal may be a force in pedigrees for a long time. Toscanini, who chased home Gleneagles in the Group 1 National Stakes as a two-year-old, is a gelding. His string of other blacktype placings include the runners-up spot in the Group 3 Anglesey Stakes, Listed Rochestown Stakes, last year's Group 3 Phoenix Sprint Stakes, and the Group 3 Renaissance Stakes, and in each of those he was beaten by less than a length. Last month he was third behind Gordon Lord Byron in the Group 2 Friarstown Stud Minstrel Stakes over seven furlongs.
A half-brother to the Grade 2-placed miler Tybalt (by Storm Cat), Toscanini is out of Tuzla, a mare who was, on breeding, an unlikely candidate for stardom. Easily the best flat representative of her mostly jumps sire, Panoramic (by Rainbow Quest), she is out of the moderate mare Turkeina (by Kautokeino), who was inbred 2x3 to Relko (by Tanerko), and her grandam, Turquoise Bleue (by Blue Tom), was also unremarkable as a runner and producer.
Tuzla showed some promise as a three-year-old in France, but did not win until she crossed the Atlantic, and from then there was no stopping her. By the time she retired, just over two years after landing in the USA, she had won a dozen races, was a millionaire, Grade 1 star, and placed at the Breeders' Cup. Her wins included the Grade 1 Ramona Handicap, Grade 2 Dahlia Handicap, Grade 2 Buena Vista Handicap, Grade 2 San Francisco Breeders' Cup Mile Handicap and Grade 3 Palomar Handicap. She failed by a neck to beat Silic in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Mile, and by the same margin to beat Happyanunoit in the Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes, and those were her final two starts. This half-sister to a multiple hurdles winner outran her pedigree and that was always going to make her a fascinating broodmare prospect. There is lots of Group 1 and Group 2 form in more distant branches of family, but there was no guarantee that the weak branch she represented could find renewed strength. The aforementioned Turquoise Bleue was unplaced, but that made her the only unsuccessful runner for Prix La Rochette scorer Mia Pola (by Relko), the fourth dam of Toscanini. A daughter of the Prix du Bois winner Polamia (by Mahmoud), a filly who was placed in races such as the Prix du Gros-Chene, Prix d'Arenberg and Prix de Saint Georges in the late fifties, Mia Pola was a broodmare of considerable influence. Her best son was Regal Bearing (by Viceregal), a prolific winner whose top results came in the Grade 2 San Luis Obispo Handicap and Grade 3 Golden Gate Handicap in California, and her stakes-winning daughter was Keep In Step (by Dance In Time), later the dam of South African Grade 1 sprint star Super Sheila (by Last Tycoon) and grandam of Group 2 Goldene Peitsche scorer Stormont (by Marju). Mia Pola's stakes-placed daughter Normia (by Northfields) became the dam of the Grade 1 Gamely Handicap winner Metamorphose (by Lord Avie) and the grandam of the European classic stars Sulamani (by Hernando) and Dream Well (by Sadler's Wells). The latter, who has sired blacktype winners on the flat and over jumps, won both the Group 1 Irish Derby and Group 1 Prix du Jockey Club (French Derby) in 1998, four years before his half-brother Sulamani won the same Chantilly classic. That colt also won the Group 1 Juddmonte International Stakes, the Grade 1 Turf Classic Invitational, Grade 1 Canadian International Stakes, Grade 1 Arlington Million, and Group 1 Dubai Sheema Classic, and his progeny include the Group 1 St Leger scorer Mastery, several South American Grade 1 winners and this year's Grade 3 Grand National hero Rule The World. Two of Mia Pola's other daughters also produced at least one stakes winner and the more notable of the pair is Midnight Lady (by Mill Reef). She won one of her two starts on the track, her son Kathmandu (by Kaldoun) won a listed contest at Nantes, but her juvenile stakes-winning daughter Party Doll (by Be My Guest) became the dam of two high-class offspring, one of whom has enjoyed some success as a stallion. That son is Titus Livius (by Machiavellian), a high-class sprinter who won the Group 2 Criterium des 2 Ans and the Group 2 Prix du Gros-Chene, and his talented progeny include the Hong Kong mile Grade 1 winner Tiber and also the Group 2-winning German miler Sehrezad. The first crop by that former Andreas Lowe-trained bay includes Millowitsch, a Group 3 winner over eight and a half furlongs at Krefeld in April, shortly before finishing fourth (no blacktype) behind Knife Edge in the Group 2 Mehl-Mulhens-Rennen (German 2000 Guineas) at Cologne. Party Doll's other notable runner is Briseida (by Pivotal), who beat the subsequent Group 1 Preis der Diana (German Oaks) heroine Rosenreihe by two and a half lengths in the Group 2 German 1000 Guineas. The classic scorer's three-year-old Orania (by Sea The Stars) was a neck runner-up in a 10-furlong Vichy maiden 15 days ago, a few days before her older half-brother Brisanto (by Dansili) finished out of the frame behind Elliptique in the Group 1 Grosser Dallmayr-Preis – Bayerisches Zuchtrennen at Munich. Listed-placed over the same trip at Compiegne the previous month, that colt was twice pattern placed in 2015 and he won the Group 3 Preis der Winterfavoriten over a mile at Cologne as a juvenile. These are the plentiful highlights of the first four generations of the pedigree, and although we cannot know for certain what led to Tuzla's surprising level of talent, given how weak her branch of the family had become, it does look likely that she has passed on some speed that lay dormant for a while. Also striking about Toscanini's pedigree is that his broodmare sire, Panoramic, is a half-brother to the top US filly Mariah's Storm (by Rahy) – he could even be described as being her three-parts brother – and she, of course, is the dam of the prolific Group 1 star and multiple US champion sire Giant's Causeway (by Storm Cat), the sire of Shamardal. The gelding is, therefore, inbred 4x3 to the Grade 3-winning mare Immense (by Roberto). Perhaps that inbreeding has played a significant part in the emergence of Toscanini as a high-class racehorse, or maybe it has input nothing of direct relevance to his ability; it is impossible to know.
There is also something else about his pedigree that deserves mention, even though its relevance, beyond academic interest, has waned since he was gelded.
Polamia was a lot more than just his speedy fifth dam, as her offspring also included 1966 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches heroine Right Away (by Right Royal), Prix Maurice de Gheest scorer Tryptic (by Tyrone), blacktype winner Timolina (by Timmy My Boy), and 1964 French juvenile champion Grey Dawn (by Herbager). He won the Prix Morny, Prix de la Salamandre and Grand Criterium that season, in the latter inflicting the only defeat that Timeform 145-rated great Sea Bird II ever met. Grey Dawn became a leading sire and his tally of 73 stakes winning progeny was complimented by one of more than 125 as a broodmare sire of stakes winners. If you want to go back another generation of Toscanini's pedigree then you will find more sprinting speed because Polamia's half-sister Sly Pola (by Spy Song) won both the Prix Robert Papin and Prix de l'Abbaye de Longchamp, and her half-brother Takawalk (by Native Dancer) won or placed in a string of good races from five to seven furlongs. Toscanini's career may not have gone in the direction that might have been predicted after he chased home Gleneagles at the Curragh two years ago, but he is among the leading sprinters in the country. He holds an entry in next month's Group 2 Derrinstown Stud Flying Five Stakes at the Curragh, a race in which he finished fourth to Sole Power in 2015, and it will be interesting to see how he gets on there as he has yet to win over the minimum trip. As for Shamardal, sire of the 2016 Group 1 winners Dariyan and Tryster, this outstanding young stallion has a chance to bring up the century tomorrow as his daughters Orcia and Burma Star are among the entries for the Listed Irish Stallion Farms European Breeders Fund Hurry Harriet Stakes over nine and a half furlongs at Gowran Park. Kildangan Stud's Shamardal (by Giant's Causeway) is just five away from reaching his 100th individual stakes winner, a landmark that few stallions ever achieve. The dual classic star is only 14 years old, his huge tally includes 17 who have won at least once at the highest level somewhere in the world, and it looks entirely possible that his four-year-old daughter Usherette may join that select group by the end of the season. Godolphin's filly was bred by Darley, she is trained by Andre Fabre and she was unraced as a juvenile. She made a winning debut on the artificial track at Chantilly in late March of her three-year-old season, followed-up over a mile on turf at the same venue but then beat only one home behind Amazing Maria in the Group 1 Prix Rothschild over the same trip at Deauville several weeks later. She was not seen out again until March 2016, a gap of seven months, but she justified favouritism in a conditions race over seven and a half furlongs on the polytrack at Deauville, followed-up over seven at Chantilly a month later, also on polytrack, and then headed to Newmarket for only her third start on turf. Her eye-catching defeat of Arabian Queen in the Group 2 Dahlia Stakes over nine furlongs at that venue led to her being sent off favourite for the Group 2 Duke of Cambridge Stakes over the mile at Royal Ascot this afternoon, and she won that in style by two and a quarter lengths. She holds an entry in next month's Group 1 Tattersalls 250th Year Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket. Should she fulfill her promise and win at the highest level then, in addition to joining her sire's string of Group 1 stars, she will also be the latest on a long list of horses in the first few generations of her pedigree who have won or been placed at that grade. Usherette is the first foal out of Monday Show (by Maria's Mon), a four-times winner in France who earned her blacktype when finishing third in a listed contest in Germany. Her full-sister Show Day, who is trained by Henri-Alex Pantall, has won a nine-furlong maiden and a mile apprentices' race this season, their two-year-old half-brother has been named Powderhouse, and the mare had a Cape Cross (by Green Desert) colt last year.
Monday Show is out of the Group 3 Prix Penelope winner La Sylphide (by Barathea) and that makes her both a half-sister to pattern-placed Vaasa (by Dalakhani) and a full-sister to Expansion. He won the Grade 2 Red Smith Handicap over 11 furlongs on turf at Aqueduct and the Grade 3 Fair Grounds Handicap over a quarter-mile less, and the races in which he was placed included the Grade 1 Man O'War Stakes and the Grade 1 Manhattan Handicap, both at Belmont Park. La Sylphide, who was born in Switzerland, is one of six blacktype horses out of Vanishing Prairie (by Alysheba), a mare who won her only two starts for the Michael Grassick stable and by a total of eight lengths. They were a 10-furlong Leopardstown maiden followed by a conditions race over 12 and a half furlongs at Down Royal. Vanishing Cupid (by Galileo) and Windy King (by Hurricane Run) won listed contests in France, Verdi (by Llandaff) was stakes-placed over a mile, and Purple Moon (by Galileo), who won the Listed Glorious Stakes at Goodwood, was a half-length runner-up in the Group 1 Melbourne Cup, short-headed in the Grade 1 Hong Kong Vase, and finished third in both the Group 1 Gold Cup at Ascot and the Group 1 Sheema Classic at Nad Al Sheba. The remaining member of the sextet is Vespone (by Llandaff) who won the Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris, the Group 1 Prix Jean Prat and Group 3 Prix La Force, and was runner-up in both the Group 1 Prix Ganay and Group 1 Premio Presidente della Republica. Vanishing Prairie's progeny include several other successful runners, one of whom is Verzasca (by Sadler's Wells), a one-time scorer in France and dam of the listed race winners Val D'Hiver (by Zafeen) and Vertana (by Sinndar). That pair got their top prize over nine furlongs and 12 furlongs respectively. The fourth dam of Usherette is the unraced Venise (by Nureyev) and that makes Vanishing Prairie a half-sister to four horses of note. Vetheuil (by Riverman) won the Group 2 Prix du Muguet and three listed races, he was runner-up in the Group 1 Prix Jacques le Marois and third in the Prix d'Ispahan. His unraced half-sister Viking's Cove (by Miswaki) is the dam of the French listed scorer Precious Bunny (by Peintre Celebre), who is inbred 2x3 to Nureyev (by Northern Dancer), while another unraced sibling, Vallee Des Reves (by Kingmambo), is the dam of Group 1 Coronation Stakes winner and Group 1 1000 Guineas runner-up Maids Causeway (by Giant's Causeway). Most notable of Venise's offspring, however, is Verveine (by Lear Fan). She won the Group 2 Prix de l'Opera and Group 3 Prix du Calvados, she was third in the Group 1 Prix de Diane (French Oaks), Group 1 Prix Saint-Alary and Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac, and her seven blacktype progeny feature two who have won at the highest level. Volga (by Caerleon) won seven times from two to five years of age, with her best success coming in the Grade 1 E P Taylor Stakes at Woodbine in Canada, and the standout performance among five wins for Vallee Enchantee (by Peintre Celebre) came in the Grade 1 Hong Kong Vase at Sha Tin. Volga's full-sister Victory Cry won the Group 3 Grand Prix de Vichy, and the gelded Vesuve (by Green Tune) is a pattern-placed stakes winner. Verveine's two-year-old is a filly named Vila Nova (by Silver Frost). There is more than enough in these first four generations of the family to show how well-bred Usherette is and the tremendous potential that she has both as a racehorse and as a future broodmare. But, as with many top pedigrees, there is plenty more of note further back, a host of major names that won't appear on the catalogue page of any of her immediate relations or future progeny. They are too far removed from her to be having any direct influence, but are of sufficiently high profile that to ignore their presence would be to leave out an important part of her family's history. Venise was out of Virunga (by Sodium) who won the Group 3 Prix de Mallaret, was runner-up in the Group 1 Yorkshire Oaks and in the Group 1 Prix Saint-Alary, and finished third in the Group 1 Prix de Diane (French Oaks). Only half of her 10 foals became winners, but one of those was the Group 1 Prix Jacques le Marois victor Vin De France (by Foolish Pleasure), another was the Group 2 Mill Reef Stakes scorer Vacarme (by Lyphard), and a third one of note was Vosges (by Youth). She earned her blacktype when taking third place in the Group 1 Prix Vermeille at Longchamp, her daughter Victoire Bleue (by Legend Of France) won the Group 1 Prix du Cadran, her classic-placed grandson Vertical Speed (by Bering) won the Group 2 Prix Hubert de Chaudenay and Group 3 Prix du Lys, and her great-granddaughter Volume (by Mount Nelson) won a listed race at Newbury before finishing third behind Taghrooda in the Group 1 Oaks at Epsom and a closer third to Bracelet in the Group 1 Irish Oaks at the Curragh. Virunga's unraced daughter Vahine (by Alysheba) is the dam of Group 2 Prix Hubert de Chaudenay winner and successful young French National Hunt sire Vendangeur (by Galileo), and another of her unraced daughters is Valley Of Hope (by Riverman), a mare from whom several notable performers descend. That mare's daughter Sister Bella (by Sadler's Wells) was third behind runaway winner Ramruma in the Group 1 Irish Oaks and is a full-sister to Nicola Bella, a minor winner who became a broodmare of note. Nicola Bella is the dam of the 10-furlong Group 1 scorer and Gestut Hof Ittlingen stallion Neatico (by Medicean), whose first foals arrived this year. She is also responsible for the Grade 2 winner Beautyandthebeast (by Machiavellian) and of Persian Belle (by Machiavellian), the unraced dam of Group 1-placed dual pattern scorer Calvados Blues (by Lando) and of the recent Group 2 Prix de Sandringham heroine Volta (by Siyouni). Usherette and Volta share a common ancestor – Virunga – but their actual relationship to each other is remote. Each is a filly of considerable potential and it will be fascinating to see how their race records ultimately compare, and to follow their eventual careers at stud. As the hours and minutes to the 2016 Group 1 Investec Derby count down, my mind runs through some of the most brilliant past winners of the race. Mill Reef (by Never Bend) is high among them, of course, the superstar whose victory in 1971 was part of a glittering CV that earned him a Timeform figure of 141.
He was an outstanding stallion, his dual Derby-winning son Shirley Heights has helped to keep his name alive in the male line of pedigrees, and he was an influential broodmare sire. It is a particular one of Mill Reef's daughters that my memory pulls out next, a filly who was not just one her sire's best-ever runners, but whose Timeform figure of 130 places her highly among the best fillies of the turf. She is a daughter of 1979's Group 1 1000 Guineas and Group 2 Coronation Stakes heroine One In A Million (by Rarity), a Henry Cecil-trained star whom Timeform rated 125 and who became a foundation mare for Meon Valley Stud. The Sir Michael Stoute-trained Milligram made a winning debut over seven furlongs at Newbury in September of her juvenile year, just months after the premature death of her sire. The following month she was runner-up to the brilliant Miesque in what turned out to be a remarkably strong edition of the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac and she went into winter quarters with a 122 rating from Timeform. She chased home Miesque again in the Group 1 1000 Guineas at Newmarket on her seasonal reappearance at three, was short-headed by Forest Flower in the Group 1 Irish 1000 Guineas at the Curragh, but then ran away with the Group 2 Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot. She failed to stay when out of the frame behind Mtoto in the Group 1 Eclipse Stakes next time, bounced back to take the Group 2 Waterford Crystal Mile (now Celebration Mile) at Goodwood, and then achieved something that few ever managed; she beat Miesque (Timeform 131 at three, 133 at four). Her margin of victory over the subsequent dual Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Mile heroine was two and a half lengths, and the excellent Sonic Lady was another five lengths back in third; the race was the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot. In one of those twists of fate that we often see in this business, Milligram failed to produce a single stakes winner at stud, while her Group 2-placed half-sister Someone Special (by Habitat) came up with four: Group 1 Juddmonte International Stakes heroine One So Wonderful (by Nashwan), Group 2 Dante Stakes winner Alnasr Alwasheek (by Sadler's Wells), classic-placed pattern winner Relatively Special (by Alzao) and listed scorer Raucous Lad (by Warning). In terms of how their grandsons and grand-daughters, and other more distant descendants have fared, their records are quite evenly matched. For Someone Special those include the US Grade 2 winner Sun Boat (by Machiavellian), European pattern scorers Best Dating (by King's Best) and Nargys (by Lawman), and several listed race winners. Milligram, on the other hand, is the grandam of the Group 2 Sun Chariot Stakes winner Kissogram (by Caerleon), of Group 1-placed stakes winner Dash To The Top (by Montjeu) and of Listed Warwickshire Oaks scorer Dash To The Front (by Diktat), and the latter is, in turn, responsible for the recent Group 2 Prix Corrida heroine Speedy Boarding. One of a string of blacktype winners in 2016 for dual classic star and outstanding Kildangan Stud stallion Shamardal (by Giant's Causeway), Speedy Boarding is trained by James Fanshawe, she is, like her ancestors, bred by Meon Valley Stud and so she carries the famous black and white colours of Helena Springfield Ltd. She was placed on her only start at two, beat Journey in a Goodwood maiden first time out at three and then won a listed contest at Newbury before finishing fifth behind Covert Love in the Group 1 Irish Oaks at the Curragh. She then failed by half a length to take a 10-furlong listed contest at Yarmouth, and was unplaced behind Simple Verse in the Group 1 Qipco British Champions Filly & Mare Stakes at Ascot. Her first start of 2016 was in last month's Group 2 Middleton Stakes over the extended 10 furlongs at York; she finished fourth behind Beautiful Romance. Her Saint-Cloud victory, also over an extended 10 furlongs, came last Sunday and she may now go for the Group 1 Sea The Stars Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh on 26th June. This talented great-granddaughter of Milligram is not in the same league as her famous ancestor, and further improvement is required if she is to be up to winning at the highest level, but beating Siljan's Saga and Candarliya in France suggests that she is on the upgrade. Whatever she does or does not achieve for the rest of her racing career, she promises to become a very valuable addition to the Meon Valley Stud broodmare band whenever that time comes.
Kildangan Stud stallion Shamardal (by Giant's Causeway) is inching closer to hitting the century for individual stakes winners, a landmark that could be within his reach before the end of 2016, and his lengthy list of progeny with their names in all-caps blacktype includes 17 who have won at least once at the highest level.
Dariyan was the latest of them to achieve that feat, the Aga Khan's homebred four-year-old having won the Group 1 Prix Ganay over 10 and a half furlongs at Saint-Cloud recently. He was out of the frame behind Postponed in the Group 1 Dubai Sheema Classic on his previous start, and runner-up to that same rival in the Group 2 Dubai City of Gold three weeks earlier. His three-year-old campaign, which featured victory in the Group 2 Prix Eugene Adam over 10 furlongs at Maisons-Laffitte, culminated in a third place finish behind Highland Reel in the Grade 1 Hong Kong Vase at Sha Tin in December. The colt is trained by Alain de Royer-Dupre, he may be seen next in the Group 1 Prix d'Ispahan, and he has the potential to figure prominently in the top middle-distance events of the year. And being a Group 1 winning son of the sire of young classic stallion Lope De Vega could make him an attractive addition to the covering shed whenever his racing career comes to an end. Dariyan is the first foal out of Grade 1 Hong Kong Vase heroine Darkayana (by Selkirk), a mare whose wins also include the Group 2 Prix de Royallieu and the Listed Prix des Tourelles, and whose placed efforts feature third in the Group 1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud. She was also third in the Group 2 Prix Corrida, finished fourth (does not count for blacktype) in the Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot, and accumulated around €1 million in prize money. Her second foal, Darabad (by Dansili), was third in a 10 furlong Saint-Cloud maiden on his debut last month, her third is a juvenile colt named Devamani (by Dubawi), she had a daughter of Redoute's Choice (by Danehill) last year, and was then bred to Dawn Approach (by New Approach). Daryakana is a half-sister to the pattern-placed stakes winner Daraybi (by Street Cry), to stakes-placed Daryamar (by Machiavellian), and also to Dardania (by Dalakhani), a placed mare whose three-year-old daughter Dourdana (by Exceed And Excel) made a winning debut in a mile maiden at Maisons-Laffitte recently. But the best of her siblings is Daramsar (by Rainbow Quest). He won the Group 2 Prix du Conseil de Paris and a 12 furlong listed contest in 2006, the best of his three blacktype placings was when chasing home Best Name and Champs Elysees in the Group 3 Prix du Prince d'Orange at Longchamp, and he has sired some winners from a small number of runners under National Hunt rules in France. Like his dam, Dariyan's grandam was also a top-class racehorse and she is the Group 1 Prix de Diane (French Oaks) and Group 1 Prix Vermeille heroine Daryaba (by Night Shift). That classic star is, in turn, out of the pattern-placed stakes winner Darata (by Vayrann), her siblings include two who earned their blacktype under National Hunt rules, and one of that pair is Darbela (by Doyoun), dam of the ill-fated Grade 1 Christmas Hurdle winner Darlan (by Milan). Daryaba's three-year-old is a filly named Dariyba (by Monsun), her two-year-old son has been named Darayem (by Redoute's Choice), and she was bred to Siyouni (by Pivotal) last year. The fourth dam of the recent Group 1 scorer is Darazina (by Labus) and her string of blacktype descendants include the Group 1 Prix du Jockey-Club (French Derby) scorer Darsi (by Polish Precedent), dual US Grade 2 scorer Grandeur (by Verglas), high-class stayer Far Cry (by Pharly), leading sprinter Muthmir (by Invincible Spirit), National Hunt Grade 1 winner Shaneshill (by King's Theatre), and talented Australian runners Gentle Genius (by Danehill) and Ironstein (by Zabeel), to name just a few. Dariyan's relationship to those horses is remote and what will be more relevant when it comes to assessing him as a stallion prospect is that he is a Group 1-winning son of a leading sire and out of a Group 1-winning daughter of a Group 1 classic heroine. |
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